FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona University Cross Country team's each sent runners to the Coaching Tree Invitational in Bloomington, Indiana. The women's team raced first, placing eighth with a score of 192 points. The men placed third with a score of 80 points, with
Theo Quax picking up the individual win.
The women kicked off the morning with a 6K race in which
Nikita Moore placed eighth with a time of 20:28.7. Also in the top-20 was
Maggi Congdon, who ran a time of 21:01.3.
Anna Fenske (30
th) and
Skyler Wallace (57
th) ran times of 21:18.0 and 22:06.4 to contribute to the scoring as well.
Abby Riordan rounded things off for the Lumberjack women finishing 102
nd with a time of 24:32.0 in her first race of the year.
"Overall, it was a great meet for us," said Assistant Coach
Becca Pflugrad. "We took five girls to get them more experience on a cross country course and they did great. They raced really tough, they raced together and moved up throughout. It was a good step forward for the girls that were there. That was the first hard effort for our team and it's a good indication that we'll have a good workout with the girls back home. It should correlate to the race next week where we're excited to get the full squad on the road and compete."
Placing first in the team standings with 37 points was No. 13 North Carolina, with all five of their scorers finishing in the top-13. No. 19 Georgetown finished second with a total of 53 points, placing four runners in the top-10. Rounding out the top-three teams was host school Indiana, with a score of 113 points.
The men's team took the top three spots in the 8K to pick up 60 points and finish third, only behind No. 17 North Carolina (53) and No. 23 Georgetown (58).
Theo Quax took home the individual title with a time of 23:26.3. Following right behind was
Santiago Gomez-Prosser (2
nd) with a time of 23:34.7, and
Kang Nyoak (3
rd) with a time of 23:44.1. Also scoring was
Corey Gorgas (19
th) and
Caleb Easton who ran times of 24:23.2 and 25:04.8 respectively in their first races of the season.
"It was super encouraging to see those guys working together," said Assistant Coach
Jarred Cornfield. "I think Theo, Santiago, and Kang did a great job of executing a good race, staying patient, and then moving together. Once they moved together, being able to gap a field like that is really great and they did a good job focusing on each other and running as a team. Seeing that lead to a 1-2-3 sweep was spectacular. Even for Corey and Caleb being patient and working together, for that group of guys to score the way they did against some nationally ranked teams was awesome."
The Jacks will be back on the road next week, traveling both teams to Stillwater, Okla. for the Cowboy Jamboree. The race will take place on Sep. 24 and will give team their first look at the national course.
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